Get Scrapped
by Rainy Meadows
Summary: Perry McLinden returns to the West, and this time she has a far more personal problem. For a second time, she wants Junjie's help, but will what they find on their search be what they hope? And is it even worth it? Oh well. At least they aren't by themselves.
1. Call Me Call Me

" _Shake it love, shake it shake it, shake it shake it love, naui mam-e deul-eowaseo-_ "

The blaring pop song was cut off as Eli picked up the receiver.

"Shane residence," was his greeting, as usual.

"Hello!" said a masculine, obnoxiously cheerful voice from the other end. "Am I speaking to Mr Eli Shane?"

"...yes?" Eli said hesitantly.

"Mr Shane, my name is Gerald and I'm calling on behalf of Bullseye Cavern Ligh-"

"We already have all the lighting we need for this place, thank you!" Eli snapped, and he slammed the receiver down with a sigh.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Kord from the couch. "That's the third time they've called this week!"

"I thought I said we should take this address off their calling list?" asked Trixie. "Finishing move."

She casually pressed a button on her controller, and the cave troll three times her size was left gaping at the screen in horror.

"Face it, big guy," she said smugly. "You aren't _ever_ going to beat me."

Kord buried his face in his hands.

"You're right," he groaned. "I don't know why I even bothered."

"Never fear, my cerulean compadre!" Pronto offered a less-than-comforting pat on the knee. "Pronto shall avenge you in your defeat, and in your honour, he shall obtain the... uh... the..."

He glanced from the TV screen to Trixie, who was eyeing him in amusement.

"What is the point of this again?" he asked.

"To win the Golden Grenuker," Trixie said flatly as the game returned to its title screen. "That's why the game is called 'Legends of the Golden Grenuker'. I'm the only one who's ever actually won it without dying even _once_ , of course-"

"Then Pronto the Legendary will obliterate your winning streak!" Pronto triumphantly snatched the controller from Kord's hands. "Prepare for an emotional annihilation the likes of which you have never been familiar with!"

"Wait," said Junjie from the other room, and he entered carrying his slugs and all of them wearing excited smiles. "This is an event I do _not_ want to miss."

"Well hey, make some popcorn if you're _that_ excited," Kord said unenthusiastically.

As the onlookers waited with baited breath, Trixie loaded up a new match - a one-on-one PvP - and shared a daring glance with Pronto.

Eli and Junjie leaned in closer, eyes fixed on the screen, as large fiery numbers counted down from 3... 2... 1...

BEGIN!

Trixie's fingers raced over her controller and she bit her lip in determination as Pronto pressed a button and discovered that it made his character crouch, avoiding punches and leading Trixie to adopt a kicking strategy. The Molenoid desperately fiddled with toggles and triggers, trying to figure out which would activate his combos, but it was too little too late as Trixie happily played her finishing move and Pronto's character promptly exploded.

Now it was Pronto who was gaping at the screen, though this time he was accompanied by a background of Eli and Junjie struggling to contain their laughter and Kord side-eyeing him with a happy little smirk.

"This controller is cheap!" he exclaimed, and tossed it onto the sofa.

"Nah, you just suck," said Trixie. "Not surprising though. You're looking at the 99 Caverns' All Time Golden Grenuker Champion 5 years in a row."

"We'll claim that crown someday, Trix," Kord promised.

"And _that_ is a promise we can _all_ agree on," added Pronto.

"You two can cut it out now!" Kord said to the two humans who were still laughing.

"Sorry," Eli said between his giggles as Junjie tried to catch his breath. "I'm just... Pronto, what the heck did you expect?!"

"Pronto _always_ expects greatness!" Pronto declared. "He does _not_ expect to be humiliated!"

"And yet you chose to challenge Trixie," Junjie gasped between wheezes. "I hate to say it, but in this case, you most definitely brought it upon yourself."

Pronto would have responded with another annoyed remark, but then the phone rang again.

"Oh, come on!" cried Eli.

"I'll get it this time," Junjie said once he had caught his breath, and he walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver.

"Shane residence," he greeted.

"Ach, smegging _finally!_ "

At the sound of the new voice, Junjie froze.

"You know, I've been dialing every single number in sequence hoping I'd eventually reach you, JJ," she ranted. "It's taken me three bloody days just to get through half the West! I swear, you are _not_ an easy lad to get hold of."

Junjie sighed.

"Blue," he said, "if you had simply asked for our number, I would have-"

"You could've just told me regardless, you numpty!" Perry pointed out. "Didn't the thought ever cross your mind? Did you not think maybe sometimes _I_ might want to call _you?_ "

Surprise was quickly replaced with shame.

"...apologies," said Junjie.

"Is that the McLinden lady?" asked Kord. "Ask her how good she is at Golden Grenuker!"

"Doesn't matter, I'd still kick her butt," Trixie boasted.

"What in crivens' name are that lot blithering on about then?" asked Perry.

"Nothing important," Junjie told her. "It's just a video game that Trixie happens to be amazingly proficient at, yet Kord still challenges her for her crown. Pronto just made an attempt. He failed miserably."

"Really?" Perry sounded genuinely intrigued. "What kind of game? 'Coz if it's one of those dancing things, I'll happily come over there and give some arse-beating."

"I bet you would," Junjie replied with a smile, "but it's a fighting game."

"Oh, now I'm _really_ interested," Perry said enthusiastically. "All those wasted calls will definitely be worth it if you tell me everything you possibly can."

"And you're sure you wouldn't rather hear it from the master herself?" asked Junjie, and he looked back at the rest of the Shane Gang, who were eyeing him with curious confusion.

"Nope!" Perry responded cheerfully.

Junjie would have been put out, but any excuse to stay away from noisiness, particularly relating to games, was welcome as far as he was concerned.

So he sat down against the wall and made himself comfortable.

* * *

"You think this is going to be a regular thing?" asked Kord.

"What do you mean?" asked Eli.

"He means Junjie's been on the phone to that McLinden lady at least once a week for the past six weeks!" Pronto pointed out. "Our phone bill has gone from zero to a hundred in no time flat!"

"It's nothing we can't handle," Trixie said. "Besides, she seems to make Junjie happy, so there can't be too much wrong with it."

"So long as the Northern woman isn't secretly plotting another means of wounding Pronto," Pronto grumbled.

"Are you _ever_ going to get over that sarsaparilla thing?" asked Kord.

"No I am not," snapped the Molenoid.

Eli leaned over the couch and watched the continuing call, with Junjie seemingly growing more and more invested in his explanation with every passing word.

He couldn't help but wonder...

* * *

"JJ, you sound knackered," said Perry. "What time is it where you are?"

Junjie failed to stifle a yawn and looked over at a clock.

"It's... a quarter to ten in the evening," he told her. "I'm sorry if I seem unresponsive, I've had a rather long day. Everybody else has already gone to bed."

"You want to tell me what happened?"

"I'd rather not. It wasn't what I would call pleasant."

Without seeing her, Junjie could tell she was shrugging.

"Fair enough," she commented. "You want me to hang up and we can try again some other time?"

"No, I wouldn't want to waste this call," said Junjie.

"You're kidding, right?" asked Perry. "If you ain't up for it, then I ain't either! Go to bed, you silly smeghead! Call me back in the morning!"

"I'm fine, believe me," Junjie told her. "Just a little tired."

He yawned again.

"But how are you?" he asked. "Have you been on any particularly exhausting missions lately?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it exhausting, but I did have to go with Benny when he were mapping the Southern Plateau and make sure none of the wilder folks down there tried to hurt him," she explained. "Got back from that earlier today. I'll admit it was kinda fun heading there again. I mean, it was hotter than hell, but it ain't half pretty. Might go there again at some point!"

Junjie smiled. Of course she'd like it. It was probably almost as hot as her temper.

"But are you totally sure you're not wanting to head bedwards?" she asked. "I know we've been at this for eight weeks already and it's kinda becomin' a routine, but I don't want you calling me while you're knackered just 'coz you feel obligated to."

His smile faded.

"Mind you," she continued, "I do think I'll sleep better tonight than I did while I were down there. Not as many bugs, you ken?"

"Yes, I ken," said Junjie. "There were hotter regions in my realms that I would occasionally have to spend multiple nights in. I know plenty about how to repel insects. Although..."

"Although what?"

"You could consider catching yourself a Slyren slug. Their singing resonates on a frequency that sends any living creature to sleep. Not only would you have a good night's rest, but any bugs wanting to snack on you would be too busy sleeping to even get close."

There was silence from the other end until-

"That ain't a half-bad idea," said Perry. "Aye, I might try that! I mean, I have absolutely no bloody idea where we'll find one of those, but I know Lenny'll love the hunt!"

Junjie smiled again, glad that he could be of help.

"I am serious, lad," said Perry. "Ring off and go to bed. I'll call you back next week and we'll chat again then, okay? And if you're as worn out as you are right now and still refuse to ring off then I'm taking the bloody ferry over there to tie you down to your bed."

"Alright, alright," Junjie said with a faint snigger. "Goodnight, Blue. I'll speak to you again soon."

"Just get some sleep, okay lad?" Perry finished.

She hung up.

Junjie sighed and rubbed his face. It was true: he was exhausted and he definitely sounded it.

So he got up, staggered to his bedroom without even turning any of the lights off, fell onto his bed and despite being fully clothed, he was asleep in seconds.

* * *

"Okay, I'm trying to figure it out-"

"Do you see an option for camera anywhere?" asked Junjie.

"Aye, and I'm clicking it, but it ain't doing nothing!" Perry insisted.

"It might just need a little time to buffer," Junjie suggested.

"Wouldn't it have told me?" Perry demanded. "It would've told me by now if it was bloody buffering!"

"Try to be patient!"

"I AM being patient!"

The static flickered away to be replaced by a living room, mostly hidden by a frustrated face.

"It's working!" Junjie said.

"Is it?" Perry pulled back. "So it is! Hey, mate! How you going?"

"I'm doing well," said Junjie. "You don't appear to have changed at all."

"Of course not!" Perry said cheerfully. "I'm way too awesome as I am to go changing myself. Although..."

"Although what?" asked Junjie.

"I did get one of me tatts added to," she admitted. "Got it done not long after that Fogfall Island business. Just a little update, nothing really massive. You wanna see?"

Junjie felt his face flush.

"What's with the face?!" Perry chuckled. "It ain't in a personal place, I promise!"

"A-alright," Junjie said, though he knew that shame was an alien concept to this woman. "So long as you're able to keep your pants on."

"I will, I will!" Perry said.

Junjie watched as she stood up and pulled off her belts, then unzipped her vest and tossed it onto the couch behind her.

"Are you going to take your-" Junjie started, but finishing was unnecessary as she pulled up the left side of her dress and moved her bare skin closer to the camera.

The man watching would have been alarmed by her sudden nakedness, even though it was only her side, but was distracted by the greenish-blue lines curving up her skin. From what he could tell, the tattoo was of a three-pronged fern, decorated with small circles akin to bubbles, but rather than leaves, the fronds bore words in the shape of leaves which Junjie recognised as names.

"A fern of names?" he said questioningly.

"They're people who're important to me what passed away," she explained. "You see any familiar?"

Looking closer and thankful for the darkness surrounding him that allowed him better view of the image, Junjie was able to read the names: "Lizzy" was above "Bobby" on the central stem, "Alice" and "Lewis" sat on either side of the right-side stem and on the left one...

"Athos, Porthos, Aramis, d'Artagnan," he read. "Those are-"

"Someone had to remember them," Perry said as she dropped her dress and her face returned to the video feed. "Someone had to remember them as more than just nasty people who wanted nowt but destruction. They were people too, however you look at 'em. And if I couldn't save their lives, I can at least make sure they ain't forgotten, you ken?"

"Yes, I see," said Junjie. "Who are the rest, if you don't mind me asking? I assume Lizzy is your mother."

"Aye, that's right," Perry told him. "Bobby was her mam. I never met the lady, but she's the reason Mam was what she was, so it makes sense to keep her in mind, don't it? Alice and Lewis were Mama Cathleen's parents, so they were the closest I ever had to a gran and grandpap."

"That's a very touching gesture," said Junjie. "Considering how your most visible tattoo is a spiderweb, I'll confess I didn't expect you to have that sort of thing, even hidden away."

"And what did you expect?" asked Perry.

Junjie shrugged.

"A skull?" he suggested. "With wings? And studded with diamonds? And now I'm going to stop because I don't want to give you ideas."

"Are you kidding?" Perry seemed aghast. "JJ, that is the _tackiest_ idea for a tattoo that I have EVER heard in my whole life."

Now it was Junjie who laughed.

"Yes," he admitted. "Yes, you're right, that was awful, I'm sorry."

When he looked back up at the screen, Perry was watching him with a soft smile.

"Is it _that_ amusing?" he asked.

"No," she replied, "but the fact that it's taken three months of calls for you to turn out to be a massive dork definitely is, wouldn't you agree?"

And now it was Junjie who was smiling.

"Yes," he said. "I suppose it is."

* * *

"So Blue, what's the big news this time?" he asked as he made himself comfortable, keeping his voice as low as he could to make sure he didn't disturb any of the other people in the house (as they were trying to get some sleep - four months of these calls had left them a little disillusioned to them).

"Well," said Perry as she too sat down, "you remember the Companimole bros, right?"

Junjie thought back, combing his mind for the memory.

"I think so..." he replied hesitantly.

"They ran the ferry that took us to Fogfall Island, remember? Told us it was wet and deadly and always would be?"

"Oh yes, I remember," Junjie said, recalling the strange trio of Molenoids. "Why do you mention them?"

"They decided they were going to quit the ferry business and move to Ludgate Cavern to start their handymanning, or maybe handymoling would be more appropriate," Perry explained, "and 'coz of that, they needed someone to take care of the Phosphoro they had on that hellrock after they were gone. With that in mind..."

She held up a slug in front of the camera.

"Say hi, Flare!"

Junjie smiled as the happy little Phosphoro slug gave him a cheerful wave.

"So they left their slug with you for safekeeping?" he asked.

"Can you think of anyone better?" Perry said smugly as she brought her rookie closer for a headrub. "Lenny offered to take her in, but she wanted to stick with me. I think she's after a little bit of adventure after spending so long living as a beacon. You'd be the same if you spent every single day in a little tank, wouldn't you? Didn't want to go settling down. Wanted to get out and see some action!"

She let the little slug jump down off her hand.

"I hope she's getting along well with the rest of your arsenal," said Junjie. "From what I remember, your Infurnus isn't quite what I would call social."

"Nah, Fury's okay with her," Perry replied. "We'll all be heading out the the Eastern Ridge to deal with a ballsy robber tomorrow so she'll get a taste of a proper fight."

"A robber?" Junjie's curiosity was piqued. "What have they been stealing?"

"Mostly slugs," said Perry. "And I've had reports of people going missing too. Folks who come back sans their slugs say it was some gamer scunner. Gotta admit I'm not looking forward to kicking the arse of a nerd, but if he's nicking everything _and_ everyone then someone's going to have to put a stop to that."

"I'm surprised you haven't given her a new name," said Junjie. "Flare, I mean. From what I can remember the rest of your arsenal have names like Barry, Steve, Graeme-"

"She's got used to Flare!" Perry pointed out. "I'm not 'bout to go giving her a new name after she's spent so long with that one! Same with Fury. Much as I'd like to call him Tim instead after the moody bloke what lives up the cliffside from me, he's used to it and to switch now would just get confusing. You remember how baffled you were when I first called you JJ, right?"

Junjie nodded. Even now he could easily recall how strange it had been to have his name shortened in such a fashion, when... hang on.

"You do realise that 'JJ' has the same number of syllables as 'Junjie' don't you?" he asked.

Perry hesitated.

"I have only just realised that," she said. "Crivens, what the hell, brain?"

"If it's any help, though I doubt it would be by now, some of my closer companions in my homelands would call me 'Jun' for short."

"Aye, you're right, that ain't too much help now."

She fixed him with a glare which Junjie found difficult to break his eyes away from. Her eyes had always been a rather icy shade of blue, but now they looked like fire.

Then she looked away, suddenly thoughtful.

"That's got to be the first thing you've ever told me about your life before the West," she mentioned. "Back when you was with me in me North, you were uncomfortable mentioning it."

Now it was Junjie's turn to be hesitant.

It was true. What he'd told her was a personal detail about his life in the East, and yet he'd revealed it so casually.

Odd.

"Perhaps I'm simply comfortable telling it to you," he said simply.

Perry smiled. It was soft and peaceful, and rather refreshing and pleasant for a person who was frequent to large, excitable grins.

"It's nice having someone to talk to," she admitted. "Someone other than the usuals we're surrounded with."

Junjie smiled too.

Sometimes it just wouldn't be honest to disagree.

* * *

The dialing tone ended with a click, followed by silence.

"Are you there, Blue?" asked Junjie. "I know it's late, but these calls really are far easier when my friends are all in bed."

Still there was silence, save for a faint sound of breathing. It was obvious someone was there, but they weren't responding.

"Perry?" Junjie tried her real name. "Are you there?"

"Aye," was the response. "Aye, it's me, I'm here, I'm just- I've had... had a lot on me mind lately."

"A lot on your- what's wrong?" asked Junjie. If something had _this_ woman upset, it must be bad.

"It's not important," said Perry. "Ain't anything you need to be worrying about, lad. Personal stuff. McLinden stuff."

"You're my friend," Junjie pointed out. "If something's bothering you, I want to hear it, and there's a good chance that you'll feel better knowing a weight is off your shoulders. Have you ever heard the saying a problem shared is a problem halved?"

More silence from the other end.

"If you like, we can change this to a video call," he suggested. "I'd be welcome to that if talking face-to-face would make this easier for you."

"That..." Perry said. "I think... I think I'd prefer that, thanks."

"Alright," said Junjie. "I'll hang up and I'll boot up the system, so you do the same, okay?"

"Okay."

She hung up.

After hanging his own receiver, Junjie approached the computer console - which had been accidentally left on by Trixie after her latest edit-cramming session - and set up the video chat program they'd had installed months ago to make distress calls easier. He saw that Perry was already online, and quickly clicked on the little camera icon in the corner of the screen.

He was relieved to find that she looked more-or-less the same, except there was something in her eyes that seemed a little off. Worry? Exhaustion? It wasn't entirely clear.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "You don't look like you usually do."

"I ain't feeling like I usually do, lad," Perry confessed. "See, I- I found this thing. In me house. A thing I didn't even know was there and I've lived in this place for close to 21 years so I'm feeling like a pretty big dafty for not noticing it before."

"And what's that?" asked Junjie.

"My house," said Perry, "has an attic."

Several questions popped into Junjie's head. He decided to get the most stupid one out of the way first.

"I thought the people of Highland Cavern live in mines and caves," he recalled. "How is it even possible for your home to have an attic?"

"It ain't your stereotypical attic, love," Perry told him. "Just like mine ain't a stereotypical house. We got our bathroom and bedrooms one floor down from everything else rather than up. Spiral staircase leading down there. I guess I was a pretty big moron not to think that the column in the middle of that stairwell is big enough to hide a ladder inside."

Junjie didn't talk. He kept listening.

"I accidentally slipped and hit it as I were heading up in a rush," Perry explained, "and this door swung open. I didn't even know it was there, it's pretty well hidden. And inside was a ladder. So I got Fury with me and I headed up, and I found... it's kinda hard to explain. You know what Highland Cavern is like, right? All that underground stuff, the gold and ore that people were mining?"

"Yes, I remember," Junjie said, sensibly omitting the world 'vaguely' from the end of that sentence.

"McLindens use that, see?" said Perry. "If we get short on cash, we just chip a bit of wall off, take it somewhere it's needed and flog it. I wouldn't have half the stuff I've got now if it weren't for the mineshaft we have hidden on the lower floor, and I think this attic thing must've started out that way, but I went up and there were all these boxes and framed photos and stuff. And it all belonged to McLindens past. I found Linnhe McLinden's journal; she was me great-great grandma, operated in the late 1800s. I even found Bonnie McLinden's shawl and she died over 250 years ago!"

"Why does that have you so troubled?" asked Junjie. "Surely something like this should have you overjoyed. It's your ancestry, after all."

"It's partly it's 'coz me mam never told me about it," said Perry. "I spent seventeen years of me life with her and never once did she say 'hey Perry, you wanna see the hidden attic?'. Makes me wonder if she didn't trust me with that stuff up there. Why would she keep it all from me? Didn't she think I'd be curious about all me past generations of family?"

Junjie nodded. He understood her feelings, even if he'd never experienced them himself.

"But it's pretty bloody obvious she _meant_ for me to find it," Perry ranted on, "because the thing that's got me most upset about the whole thing is this."

She held up a thick, blocky-looking envelope.

"What's in there?" asked Junjie.

"Hell if I know!" exclaimed Perry. "You think I've had the guts to open it? It could be a book or a case of jewellery or a photo album full of pictures of Mam with whichever scunner she banged so I could exist- all I know is it's got this written on it."

She held the envelope up to her camera and Junjie read

 _For Periwinkle_

 _a_ _ge 18_

 _"_ She meant for me to see it once I'd taken over," Perry told him. "This is something she didn't want me to look at until I'd got her job. And I can't for the life of me think of any reason why that would be!"

"Do you want to find out?" asked Junjie.

"Of course I want to bloody find out!" shouted Perry.

"Then why don't you open it?"

"Because I'm scared to, alright? I'm scared of what it might be, what it might not be, if it'll be something fantastic or something awful or something that'll make me want to puke-!"

"Whatever it is can't be too world-shaking if it's from your mother," Junjie pointed out. "Especially if it's small enough to fit into an envelope, never mind its size. And besides, I'm right here. In a way, we'll be opening it together. You're alright with that, aren't you?"

Perry rubbed her eyes, somehow not smudging her as-always impeccable make-up.

"You're right," she said. "Aye, you're right. I'm just going to have to bite the blaster and open it."

She took a deep breath and ripped off one of the envelope's edges, and pulled out something black.

"Well?" said Junjie. "What is it?"

She didn't reply. Whatever it was, she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.

Even as she reached up towards the camera.

"Wait, Perry-!"

Too late.

The feed was cut off.

Junjie sat back and sighed. Five and half months of consistent, regular calls to one-another seemed to have been brought to an abrupt end. He considered walking over to the phone and calling her the old-fashioned way, but if she was so disturbed by what she had found that she had cut off the video call, obviously something had rocked her to the core.

He rubbed his eyes, much like she had. It was nice to talk to her, but having to stay up late to do so wasn't as nice.

But what was in the envelope?

What had her stunned so overwhelmingly?

Obviously he wasn't going to find out tonight.

* * *

Junjie paused, his fingers stopping several inches short of the receiver.

"Ugh, dude, come ON!"

Annoyed, he looked round.

"Have I done something to offend you?" he asked.

"Offend? No," said Eli. "But come on. If you want to call her, just pick up the phone, dial the number and say 'hey, it's been two weeks, why haven't you called?'"

"It's not a simple as that, Eli," Junjie stated.

"But he has a point!" cried Pronto. "You've been hanging around that phone like a bad smell and I know _plenty_ about bad smells!"

"That we can vouch for," Trixie commented.

"So for cavern's sake," Pronto continued. "Just pick up that phone, confess your love and get the issue over with!"

Junjie would have responded with something snarky, except...

"... _confess my love?!_ " he repeated.

"Aw, come on, don't say you haven't noticed," said Kord, not looking round from his work. "You don't think we haven't seen that look on your face every time the two of you have one of your calls? That little smile that's _always_ there?"

"It's because she's a friend," Junjie insisted. "Can you honestly tell me you never feel happy when you speak to a friend you feel lucky to have contact with?"

"Well, _duh_ ," said Eli. "I live with four of them."

"Junjie," said Trixie, "the look on your face when the two of you talk; the only word I can think of to describe it is bliss."

"She hasn't called in two weeks!" Junjie stated angrily. "The last time she spoke, something had her extremely troubled to the point of not being able to continue the conversation. I haven't called her because I don't want to intrude on her privacy or her personal space-"

" _Shake it love, shake it shake it-_ "

In shock, Junjie glanced over at Eli, who nodded at him as if to say 'Be my guest'.

Still a little hesitant, Junjie picked up the receiver.

"Shane residence," he greeted once more.

"Hey, JJ."

He had to force himself not to fall to his knees in relief.

"Blue, what the hell is going on?" he demanded. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? You just rang off for two weeks and-"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Perry interjected. "And I do mean it, so just drop it right now."

Junjie sighed. He probably sounded angrier than he felt.

"Can you at least tell me why you didn't contact me?" he asked.

"I did a bit of thinking," Perry explained, "and I figured it might be a bit tricky discussing stuff over the phone, or even in video chat."

There was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" said Trixie, and she made for the building's entrance.

"So what?" asked Junjie. "How will you tell me?"

"Simple!"

The line was cut off. Junjie stared at the receiver in confusion.

Behind him, the door opened.

"I figured it'd be best to talk in person."

And that reply had most certainly _not_ come through the phone.


	2. I Want To Break Free

At the sound of her voice, Junjie stood and looked to the door, where the woman he had just been speaking to closed her phone with a snap.

"Uh..." Trixie said awkwardly, "...hi?"

"Mornin'," Perry said cheerfully, and then leaned to look past her.

Junjie didn't care how foolish he looked as he sprang forward, sprinted to the door and swept her up in a massive hug.

"WhoAAAH!" she yelped, and laughed in delight as she returned the embrace. "Good to see you too, crivens!"

"You had me worried sick!" Junjie said as he set her down. "And yes, it _is_ good to see you're alright."

"Uh, do you guys want some privacy?" asked Trixie.

"Nah, lass, I didn't come here for cuddles," said Perry. "Tipsy, right?"

"...Trixie," Trixie said flatly.

"Blue, what the heck are you doing here?" asked Junjie. "What's so important that you couldn't even speak about it via video chat?"

"Well, uh," Perry said, "it's a bit-"

"Just tell them, P."

Junjie stared as a familiar blue-skinned, green-clad girl came into view around the corner of the doorframe.

"Lenny?!" he exclaimed. "You're here too?"

"Of course!" Lenny replied. "You didn't think I'd let this one come here by herself again after what happened last time she did that, do you?"

"I have not even seen this lady yet but I like her!" Pronto said, sticking up his hand and not looking back at the door.

"I'm hardly a lady," Lenny commented. "Seriously, Perry, get to the point. We don't have all day."

"Fair enough," said Perry, and she reached further into her vest than should have been possible. "The point..."

She pulled it out.

"Is this."

* * *

"Dude," said Eli, "I feel like I'm looking, like, 20 years into the past."

"Same here," said Kord. "I didn't even know any of these still existed!"

"Obviously they do if we're all standing here looking at one," Trixie pointed out.

"And would you mind explaining what it is to those of us who were absent for various reasons for the past 20 years?" Junjie asked bitterly.

A few seconds passed as eyes of various colours and nationalities were fixed on him in amazed bafflement.

"Well, um," Trixie said hesitantly. "You know how videos are recorded and uploaded onto the Slugnet?"

"Of course I know that," said Junjie. "That was one of the first things I found out after my release."

"I don't know what could have kept you from knowing," said Lenny, "but before the Slugnet was at a point that it could handle worldwide distribution of video footage, it had to be recorded and stored on tapes. It still happens from time to time, but that's incredibly rare and mostly it's in digital format. What you're looking at is an analogue video tape from a period..."

She picked it up off the table and looked it over.

"Can I see?" asked Trixie.

"Knock yourself out," said Lenny, and passed her the tape.

Trixie examined the blocky plastic box with scrutinizing eyes.

"I'm used to digital by now," she confessed, "but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say this thing was recorded in the mid-to-late 90s. 1996 or 7, maybe?"

"So Mam recorded this for me to watch at age 18 when I were only 2?" asked Perry.

"If 1995 is the year you were born in, then yes," Trixie said, and she put the tape back down in the middle of the table where everyone could see it.

"Even with where I'm from, I haven't seen one of these things in literally over a decade," said Eli, who was unable to rip his eyes away from it. "I feel like a freakin' archaeologist just standing here!"

"But would either of you two ladies consider explaining why this little plastic box has you crossing the Cavern Sea?" demanded Pronto.

"We were about to get to that, you impatient scunner!" Perry replied angrily.

Pronto's glare shot daggers in her direction.

"You're wondering why I lost contact for two whole weeks?" Perry asked Junjie. "It's 'coz thirteen days is how long me and Len spent touring all over the North trying to find a machine that could play this bloody thing and one day is how long it took for us to get here, having realised we didn't have a damn bloody chance!"

She slammed on the table with her fist and it made a worrying cracking noise.

"Whoa, easy!" said Eli. "We'll help in any way we can! Surely even with how advanced technology's gotten, there has to be some way we can play this tape!"

"I wouldn't hold out to much hope, bro," said Kord. "I'm no Trixie, but I know nobody's used analogue tapes like these for like, _ever_. Even with there being 99 Caverns here, you'd be hard-pressed to find a video cassette player in any of them."

"So then..." Lenny said, "...are we never going to find out what's on this tape?"

"Sorry," said Trixie as Perry slumped to her knees. "Looks like you'll have to go on without knowing."

Perry buried her face in the arms she had crossed on the edge of the table.

"Criven's sake, Mam," she muttered.

"Are you sure there's no way to modify the player we have here to accept an analogue tape?" asked Junjie.

"Nah, not a chance," said Kord. "And even if I could, it just ain't compatible. We'd need a whole player to be able to manage this thing."

"And there's literally nowhere in the entirety of _the whole world_ of Slugterra that would have one in stock?" asked Lenny.

"...no," said Kord.

Perry's head snapped up.

"Hesitation," she said. "You hesitated, you know something, don't you?"

"Well-"

"C'mon, blue boy, spit it out! If there's something you know then I want to hear it!"

"It's just a thought!" Kord said quickly as she strode over to him and glared up at him - even though he was almost a foot taller than her, she still seemed pretty damn intimidating. "And honestly it's one that I really don't like because it involves a place I used to have fond memories of but definitely don't anymore!"

Perry's face twisted in annoyance at his vagueness. She looked like she could punch him at any second and wouldn't have any qualms about it.

"You're talking about the Scrap Heap, aren't you?" asked Eli, hoping to intervene before that could happen.

"No, no, that's perfect!" said Trixie, and thankfully the Highland woman seemed to calm down somewhat. "There's sure to be at least one cassette player buried _somewhere_ in there, right? I mean, the chance of them being in working condition might be pretty slim, but we could easily fix it if it's damaged."

"But I'm guessing by Eli's reaction that something less than favourable happened in this Scrap Heap," said Junjie.

"Let's just say that there were some rather unpleasant folks there who wanted to keep our blasters, our slugs and _us_ ," said Pronto. "And Pronto cannot dwell in Deep Storage for his entire life. He needs to feel the light on his face!"

"And he better shut that face unless he wants his lights knocked out," muttered Perry.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing."

The glaring resumed.

"So if these guys can keep away from each other's throats for five minutes," said Eli, "can we make up our minds about whether we're going to the Scrap Heap or not? We don't have good history with that place and I'll be the first to admit that, but if it means finding out something important about a family that seems pretty much as prominent and powerful as mine, then I guess I'm all for it."

"Oh no, Eli," said Trixie. "I know I could say 'not after last time' and leave it at that, but it would be pretty irresponsible for all of us to head off, even if this is important. It was pretty irresponsible the first time!"

Upon hearing this, Perry groaned and fell forward until her forehead hit the tabletop.

"But we don't need all of us, do we?" asked Lenny, eyeing her nervously. "Obviously we need at least one person who's been there, and Perry would try to wipe everyone out if we didn't let her follow along-"

"You're a bitch, Lenny Harper," Perry grumbled through a faceful of table.

"-and I'd have to go to make sure that doesn't happen since I'm almost the only one she'll properly listen to," Lenny continued regardless, "so with that in mind, we'd probably only need one other person, preferably somebody with a LOT of combat experience. Like, more than either of the other two combined. Judging by what you guys said, we'll need the firepower."

Rather than straightening up, Perry's cheek hit the wood with a thump as she flopped over to look up at Junjie.

"I'm assuming that means me?" he asked.

"Well, do you have more combat experience than Perry and Eli combined?" asked Kord. "Trick question, of course you do."

"Hey, hey, nobody said it _had_ to be me who goes along!" Eli objected.

"There needs to be at least one person who has been to the Scrap Heap before," said Pronto, "and while I confess that I am undoubtedly the single most skilled navigator in at least a 50 mile radius, there is no way in 99 or _any_ number of caverns that I wish to go back there!"

"Fair enough," said Trixie. "I've got enough footage of that place to last me a lifetime. Like, at _least_ a minute."

After nodding in agreement, Eli leaned down.

"So how about it?" he said to Perry. "You want to head to the Scrap Heap?"

Hey eyes wandered over to Lenny.

"Even without you being stuck up, we'll still need you coming along," she told her. "What with you spending all that time with Benny and that."

"Benny?" Eli said questioningly.

"My eldest brother," Lenny explained. "He's a cartographer."

"Wha- why can't YOUR family be the ones who defend the North?" Pronto demanded. "You seem so much more pleasant _and_ you have your very own map-maker with you!"

" _No_ ," said Lenny firmly. "You will not ever catch me holding a blaster, let alone using one. I'd rather burn a book than let myself get involved in a fight."

With that said, Perry straightened up.

"Okie-dokie, then," she said. "Guess we're all heading off to the Scrap Heap."

Eli nodded grimly.

"The Scrap Heap," he confirmed.

* * *

Nobody was sure why, but the ride felt longer than it probably was. Perhaps it was the impatient anticipation of finding out what was on that tape, or perhaps it was the frustration of it being left in the care of the remaining members of the Shane Gang, who hopefully wouldn't get up to any shenanigans while their leader and his mentor were absent.

"Would you be willing to tell us exactly what made you so averse to this place?" asked Junjie.

"It's a bit of a long story," said Eli.

"Oh aye, and it ain't like we don't have plenty of time for it!" Perry responded.

"It can't have been massively awful if you _are_ willing to go back, even begrudgingly," Lenny pointed out.

"Okay, okay!" said Eli. "We were on the hunt for a new blaster part-"

"The Megamorph booster?" asked Junjie.

"Actually, it's this one I haven't used in a while," said Eli. "A double barrel slot that lets me fire two slugs from one blaster so they can combine into an attack way more powerful than either one can manage alone."

"And you haven't told me about it?!" Junjie exclaimed in disbelief.

"After you started teaching me Slug Fu, I haven't really needed it," Eli explained. "So anyway, we went looking for a part for it-"

"What part?" asked Perry. "You probably could've got it cheap and easy had you bothered heading Northwards."

"Oh yeah?" Eli was now rather annoyed by the interruptions. "Is a Vitalis crystal cheap and easy where you come from?"

"A Vitali-what-now?" said Perry.

"Exactly," said Eli. "We went to the Scrap Heap 'coz it's got parts and machinery from all over Slugterra. We managed to find what we were after, but we had to head into Deep Storage and it turned out there was a gang there who preyed on customers and stole their blasters and slugs. Tried to do the same to us. Luckily we're all awesome, so we managed to get out without being too badly roughed up. Still not a big fan of the place though."

"It sounds like a problem that could easily have been avoided had you simply used a second blaster," Junjie stated.

"Perhaps they wouldn't have been close enough for it to be effective?" Lenny theorised. "Plus there's the chance of a slight interval between shots that would throw the slugs off, as well as if they had different levels of recoil. Firing two slugs from a single blaster would definitely be preferable."

"That's exactly what Kord suggested," said Eli.

"But what the hell were you drinking to come up with the idea for that?" asked Perry.

"It wasn't us," Eli told her. "We took inspiration from an elderly slugslinging master, who... unfortunately passed away. I saw her do a fusion shot and I was just like 'whoa'."

"And I suppose your conflict with Dr Blakk had something to do with your desire for greater firepower?" asked Junjie.

"What in the hell kind of stuff do you get up to over in these parts, lad?" asked Perry.

"Probably some more specific troubles than you have to deal with," replied Eli. "I'm guessing you've never had a sociopathic scientist trying his hardest to corrupt the lands you're meant to protect and start a literal invasion from the darkest depths of Hell?"

Shocked and baffled, Perry shook her head.

"Be glad of that," said Eli. "It's pretty cool in theory, but not so much in practice."

Nobody was quite sure how to respond.

"Um..." Lenny said hesitantly, "...how about I put a little bit of music on?"

"Good idea," said Junjie.

"Doesn't matter what," said Perry. "Not like we have a big catalog."

"In any case, don't make it anything too long. From the looks of things, we might not have much further to go."

"Fair enough, as long as we get there soon. I don't fancy the idea of mecha sores."

Lenny pressed a small series of buttons on the back of her mecha's neck, and not long after, her ride began vibrating with the bass.

" _I want to break free!_ "

Junjie looked back at the sound of the strange voice.

" _I want to break! Free!_ "

"Who is this?" he asked.

" _I want to break free from your lies, you're so self-satisfied, I don't need you..._ "

"Hedley Hermes," explained Perry. "He died not long before I was born and is a massive loss to Slugterra."

" _...I've got to break free_."

"Must be North-based, I've never heard of him," said Eli.

" _Hell knows..._ "

"But it isn't bad," Junjie added quickly, and checked that Perry wasn't annoyed.

" _Hell knows I've got to break free._ "

Thankfully, she wasn't. She was smiling, probably amused by his quick reassurance. He could tell it was genuine by the sparkle in her eyes.

" _I've fallen in love_."

It was, he had to admit, rather a nice smile.

" _I've fallen in love for the first time and this time I know it's for real..._ "

He quickly looked away before either of them could get ideas.

" _I've fallen in love... yeah..._ "

Then he saw Eli was smiling too, far more smugly than she was.

" _Hell knows... hell knows I've fallen in love._ "

"What are you smiling at?" he asked.

"Junjie," Eli said in a tone that could only be described as sly, "what exactly happened during the time you spent in the Northern Caverns?"

" _It's strange but it's true, I can't get over the way you love me like you do_."

"I don't like your tone or what you seem to be implying, Eli," Junjie said. "We didn't do anything that people who have known each other for three days wouldn't have done."

" _But I have to be sure, when I walk out that door_..."

"People have known each other for shorter amounts of time and done some incredibly intimate things," Eli continued, sounding alarmingly smug.

Junjie fixed him with as annoyed a glare as he could.

" _Oh how I want to be free, baby._ _Oh how I want to be free,_ _oh how I want to break free._ "

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" said Eli. "You don't really seem the type to have got _that_ close to someone after only three days. Though you've definitely been sharing phone calls for quite a while."

After making sure he wouldn't crash into anything if he looked away, Junjie glanced back again, and he saw Perry looking at something on Lenny's mecha with an excited smile. Lenny was smiling too; it seemed they had found a track both of them rather liked. The current track was in the middle of an instrumental, but it was hard to tell if the main instrument was a guitar or some sort of trumpet.

"I suppose..." Junjie muttered. "...she isn't quite as overwhelming as she first appears. I think to call her intense and leave it at that wouldn't be very fair. She proved on Fogfall Island that she's more than capable of compassion. Still..."

"Still what?" asked Eli.

"I can't avoid wondering what it is about herself that she's trying to hide," Junjie said, and turned back to look where he was going. "During the nights we shared _not in that way stop grinning_ while I was helping her, she outright refused to look at my bare arms. When I asked her how long she'd been doing her job as the protector of the North, she seemed rather hesitant about telling me, and when I almost felt prompted to explain about my home-"

"Oh boy..."

"-she said it was alright not to, and explained to Lenny that the Eastern Caverns are my 'Lizzy'."

"Your Lizzy? What the heck does she mean by that?"

"Lizzy was her mother's name. The mother who passed away."

Eli seemed almost stunned.

" _But life still goes on..._ "

"And you're okay with the near-complete annihilation of your homelands being compared to the death of a single woman?" he asked.

" _I can't get used to living without, living without, living without you by my side..._ "

"People interpret such things differently," Junjie pointed out, "and as I don't know the details of Lizzy McLinden's death, it's not my place to invalidate Perry's feelings."

" _I don't want to live alone, hey..._ "

"You of all people should know what it's like to lose a parent," said Junjie.

Eli's face flushed.

" _Hell knows, got to make it on my own._ "

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry about, dude," said Eli. "Not the sort of thing where you can pretend it didn't happen, huh?"

" _So baby, can't you see? I've got to break free_."

He looked up at their surroundings.

"Looks like we haven't got much further to go," he said. "Probably time for at least one more song."

" _I've got to break free. I want to break free, yeah. I want, I want, I want, I want to break free..._ "

"Hey, Lenny!" Eli leaned back to catch the blue-skinned girl's attention. "You got anything more recent?"

"Yes, of course!" said Lenny. "You wouldn't believe the looks of my library. I've literally got 35 minute multi-stanza orchestral pieces right next to Clash at Rammstone Head and Mello Yello's greatest hits. I'll see if I can find something a little more cheerful."

She pressed a couple more buttons and a quicker, more upbeat song began to play.

* * *

"Well..."

Junjie looked back and saw Perry staring out in wonderment at the vast expanse of pile of scrap upon pile of scrap that lay before them.

"Seems neither of us were expecting it to be quite so impressive," he said.

"No kidding!" Perry said numbly.

"How in Slugterra are we meant to find a single cake-box-sized piece of machinery in all of this?!" exclaimed Lenny.

"Not to worry, guys," said Eli. "There's a directory that'll tell us if there's any in stock and where they can be found. Even prints a map."

"Huh," Junjie said simply. "Helpful."

"Unless we have to head into Deep Storage again," Eli added, "which would be the _opposite_ of helpful."

Sure enough, it was only a short ride later that they came upon the pedestal that stood not far from the gates that greeted them, which prompted them to dismount and approach.

"Okay," said Eli, and into the keyboard he entered "Analogue... video... cassette... tape... player, hopefully I was specific enough for it to give us what we want rather than a dozen analogue clocks and fifty audio tapes minus their players."

It wasn't long before the machine whirred to life and printed out a short note, which Junjie removed and read.

"Video cassette player," he read. "3 in stock, all in Top Storage department 77 section 3H, Indoor Appliances 15yrs and under. Makes it sounds like you're almost too young to go there, Eli."

"Any clues on how to get there?" asked Perry.

The machine obediently printed out a map.

"I swear this thing has a mind of its own," Eli commented as Lenny picked it up.

"Looks like it isn't too far from here," she said. "Won't take us more than a couple of hours of mecha riding, at least."

The second she finished speaking, the machine churned out a second note, which Perry picked up.

"No mechas allowed," she read. "Screw you too, you little bitch." She screwed up the paper into a ball and threw it at the machine.

"There should be a cart line around here somewhere," said Eli, "but I kinda doubt anybody's been here to fix it since we pretty much wrecked it the last time we were here. Looks like we'll have to walk."

"I'm okay with that," Perry said with a shrug, "just as long as all that stuff doesn't come toppling down on top of us."

"Don't jinx it!" said Lenny. "Let's get moving. I already don't like this place and I'd prefer to leave it as soon as possible, it's already giving me the creeps."

She directed them down a path that led between the piles of scrap that loomed over them on all sides like gigantic threatening pimples on the face of the cavern, and none of them wanted to know what would happen if one of them was to pop.

"Okay," Lenny said, looking over the map. "Looks like back there was section 00, back where that info thing was, and right now we're moving through section 99, so we've got quite a way to go before we hit 77."

"Why the bloody hell couldn't we bring our mechas?" Perry demanded. "Would've been nice to have a bit of music to distract from the fact that none of us know what the hell to talk about! Who's up for walking in dead silence until we reach 77?"

"Me." Lenny put up her hand.

"Me." Eli did the same.

"You're all ridiculous," said Junjie. "Surely you can survive for a while without music."

"Oh aye?" said Perry. "You got any suggestions for what we're going to talk about?"

"Really?" Junjie raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to share any speculations about what might be on that tape?"

Perry paused.

"Trust me, she's already had plenty," said Lenny, not looking back from the map.

"It's wording 'em that's the problem," Perry added.

"Not to sound like a harbinger of doom or anything," said Eli, "but if it's something your mother didn't want you to see until you were 18, it's probably pretty important."

"No shit!" said Perry. "You think I hadn't figured?!"

"It might not be!" Eli hurried to cover his tracks. "For all we know it could just be her saying how proud she is of you to make it this far. Plus, just because it's on a tape, that doesn't mean it was recorded years and years ago. Trixie might've been wrong: it could've only been a few years and your mom was just using outdated technology."

Again, Perry was speechless.

"That..." she muttered. "...that's a fair point. Me mam always was a little outdated when it comes to tech."

"Aren't all parents?" Eli asked with a smile. "Even Junjie has trouble understanding some of the stuff we've got back at our hideout."

"To be fair, I have a more than valid reason," Junjie pointed out.

"You still haven't said what that is," said Perry.

"And if I'm being honest," said Junjie, "I do not wish to."

"Aye, I know the feel," Perry said. "What it's like not wantin' to talk about something. 'Specially if it's painful."

"Okay, let's try not to go down _that_ road!" Eli interjected before the conversation could get depressing.

"No, let's go down this road instead," said Lenny, who still had her eyes fixed on the map, "and then maybe we can _ah!_ "

They heard her cry of shock right before she topped to the ground.

"Len!" Perry dashed forward. "Len, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lenny said, rubbing the heel of the hand she had used to try to brace her fall. "Just tripped on a bit of scrap is all. If I didn't hate this place before..."

Eli and Junjie looked down at the long exhaust pipe jutting out of the heap of scrap, just low enough to the ground and sticking out just far enough for someone to trip over if they weren't watching where they were going.

"Who in Slugterra would allow that?" asked Junjie. "When was the last time a maintenance crew came through this place?"

"The work of a Shane is never done," said Eli, and as Perry helped Lenny stand and straighten out the map, he grabbed the pipe and wrenched it back so that it was lying against the heap rather than protruding from it-

-and from somewhere inside the pile came a deep, threatening _clunk_.

"That was a bad idea," said Junjie.

The scrap heap started to rumble. Chunks of machinery dislodged from the surface up above and started rolling down.

"...I think I just triggered a scrapalanche," Eli said weakly.

"No kidding, you moron!" cried Lenny.

"Whatever you want to call it, RUN!" shouted Junjie.

The quartet ran as fast as they could, even through the fear that the weight of their footfalls would loosen even more scrap from the immense piles that surrounded them, and Perry yelling even louder that they should have been allowed to take their mechas.

Then Lenny tripped again, and Perry stopped in shock.

"LENNY!" she cried.

Eli was closer. He ran over to the blue-skinned girl and fired his Geoshard slug into the ground.

" _LENNY!_ " Perry screamed again as she watched her friend get enveloped in green crystal.

"There's no time!" yelled Junjie, and he seized her round the waste and fired his own Geoshard.

The crystal rose to cover them right as the mounds upon mounds of scrap rushed and piled over their heads.

Then, finally, it settled.

And the Scrap Heap was silent.


	3. Call Your Name

"Douse your flame."

Joo-joo eyed his slinger with confusion.

"Joo-joo, put your flame out!" Junjie desperately repeated. "I don't know how much air we have left to breathe and we can't afford to burn it!"

As soon as the realisation hit, the greying Infurnus ended his flame and jumped back into his slinger's bandoleer.

Junjie would have sighed from relief were he not straining with effort, trying to hold up the weight on his back. He looked down at the woman he was shielding, who lay in the scrap with her eyes tightly closed.

"Blu- Perry," he gasped, "are you-"

"Lenny," she muttered. "I'm sorry-"

"She's fine, I saw Eli grab her but Perry, listen, I need you to help me," said Junjie, whose arms were starting to threateningly wobble under the weight of the curved sheet of crystal and the scrap heaped on top of it.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him in horror.

"What're you-"

"I can't hold this for much longer!" Junjie gasped, and forced his arms to straighten. "I-I need you to help me lift this. Get it stable. Or at least to a point where we aren't just going to be buried under-"

"Okay, okay!" She wriggled out from under him and pressed her arms against the green crystal, finding her way by its soft, faint glow, and she started to push up.

"That's it-" Once she was safely out, Junjie wrenched his leg forward and propped it under his body, giving himself the support he needed to remove his arms and thrust his strength into pushing the bathtub-shaped crystal up.

His wrists and biceps screamed from the effort, and his neck felt like it could snap in half. He didn't dare open his eyes in case that tiny action caused his bones to shatter. He could feel the crystal lifting, slowly, both from his end and from Perry's, and together they managed to heave and shove until they were almost able to stand on the ground-

"AGH!"

"Stop! Blue, stop pushing!"

Luckily, when they took their hands away, the crystal was wedged. It wouldn't be going anywhere. Their lifting had dislodged enough loose scrap to give way and bury them up to the mid-thigh, but nothing else had fallen in. After waiting to make sure that it was all definitely stable, he sat down and sighed with relief.

"I don't think we should go much further," he said. "Not for now. Not if it's going to hurt you. We've at least managed to make ourselves an extra hour of air, at minimum. "

He finally opened his eyes and saw that she was still standing, slouching under the crystal, clutching her right hand and flexing the fingers with a face of frustration and pain.

"Are you alright?" he asked, though the answer was obvious.

"I'm fine," she spat. "Fine, okay? This just happens sometimes."

"You were just bearing the weight of I-don't-know-how-many tonnes of scrap," Junjie pointed out. "I've been trained to take massive weight, but if you're not, then you should let me see if you're hurt."

He offered his hand.

Perry sat down, frowning, and held hers out.

"I won't be able to see much with-"

"Fine." She pulled the glove off her right arm and held out her hand.

While she averted her eyes, Junjie gently pulled it closer. He couldn't see any obvious injuries, aside from the scar that wrapped almost all of the way around, across her palm and the back of her hand and stopping just short of the gusset of skin between her thumb and forefinger.

"Can you move your fingers?" he asked.

She curled her hand into a fist and winced at the action.

"Stop," said Junjie, and she opened her hand again. "If you can move, I don't think it's broken. It might just be a sprain. You'll be fine if we can get you something cold for it."

Perry looked down shamefully.

"Thanks," she said.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed about getting hurt," Junjie pointed out.

"It's not that," said Perry. "It's... I, um..."

She looked down, at the scarred hand Junjie held, and he searched it again for any obvious signs of...

...oh.

"This scar?" he said. "Is that-"

"Aye," said Perry.

Junjie looked at it again. It was hard to tell in this faint light, but it looked quite jagged around the edges. Almost as if the skin had been ripped open.

"It..." he searched for words that wouldn't sound invasive. "...it looks like it was quite a wound."

"It was," said Perry. "And I ain't telling you where it came from. I don't want to have to relive all that."

With a nod of understanding, Junjie released her hand, and she gratefully pulled her glove back on.

As she did so, Junjie tapped on the canisters on his bandoleer.

"Are all of you alright?" he asked, and was met with squeaks and little smiles of affirmation.

He looked at Perry and saw that she too was checking on her arsenal.

"It's okay, lads," she said gently. "I'm fine."

Or maybe her arsenal was checking on her.

She sighed. Her face was solemn.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"This wasn't your fault," said Junjie. "Eli's been reckless for as long as I've known him. I recall him owning a Crystalyd slug just in case something like this were to happen, but even then, he wasn't to know that pipe was load-bearing. I swear, the lack of maintenance for the scrapheap to become that unstable-"

"Yes it is!" Perry interrupted. "It _is_ my fault! If I hadn't shown up at your door, we wouldn't even be in this place to get buried!"

She hid her face with her hands.

"And now if we don't suffocate, we'll just starve to death under masses of scrap metal where nobody even knows where to start looking for us," she said. "If I hadn't been such a _fucking_ moron..."

Not wanting her to cry, Junjie reached up and gently pulled a hand away from her face, and she looked at him with an eye as sorrowful as it was blue.

"We'll get out of this," he promised. "We'll find Eli and Lenny, we'll get a cassette player and then you'll discover what your mother wanted you to see. I swear to you. I won't allow everything to end here."

She blinked, and averted her eyes again, but lowered her hands.

"With everything I've already done," said Junjie, "it's about time I finally started protecting people again."

He looked away from her, trying and probably failing to hide his shame. To hide the memories that flashed before his eyes of accusations and betrayal and faces twisted with hatred...

He pinched his brow, trying to get rid of the awful images.

There was no asylum - no salvation - for the likes of him.

"You..."

He looked up at Perry again, amazed by her tone. He hadn't ever heard a person sound so small.

"You _are_ curious, aren't you?" she asked.

"About what?" asked Junjie, though he could guess the answer.

"About this," said Perry, and she held up her right hand. "This scar I have. You want to know how I got it, don't you?"

Junjie didn't reply. It would be a lie to say he didn't possess any sick curiosity about the wound that had caused it, but if telling that story would cause pain for its narrator, he didn't want to hear it.

"You..." he struggled to find phrasing that wouldn't upset her. "You don't have to tell me. Not if you don't want to."

"We could die here, you dumb-arsed scunner," said Perry. "And it'll be because I was stubborn and stupid. You deserve to know. You deserve the truth."

She sighed again, lowered her hand, and Junjie accepted that this was happening.

"I am," she said, "easily one of the most powerful slingers in all the Northern Caverns combined, and I don't care how stuck-up I sound saying that. I'm fast. I'm agile. I don't even have 10 slugs in me arsenal but I can use them to take down a whole bunch of bandits by myself, then destroy the building they were holed up in. Thinking on my feet, I could even take them all down without severe injuries. Sure, I might need a hand every now and again, but you've seen me fight. I'm bloody epic."

She glanced down at Fury, who was eyeing her from her belt.

"So when I tell you that my mam made me look like a complete and total amateur, you know she must've been good," she continued. "I still have not met a single slinger even half as good as Lizzy McLinden. I'm not. Not even you. No offense."

"None taken," said Junjie.

"She was..." there was a pause, presumably as the right words were searched for. "...she was mind-blowing. Even while she were pregnant with me, she took down the highwayman Rick Lurpin and sent him to prison and returned all the stuff he'd stolen to the folks he'd nicked it from. Didn't even break any bones he wouldn't recover from. When monsters started coming through the Eastern trade route, she blocked it up. Didn't think twice about it. Went back there a few times a year to make sure it were holding. It's still sealed up today. Not even cracked."

Monsters coming through a trade route from the East...

Junjie kept his mouth shut.

"She started teaching me when I were six," Perry explained. "Her birthday present to me was to let me fire Fury for the first time. It was amazing, I'd never felt so alive. From then on, we followed a schedule: six hours of training per day, with weekends off and a two week interval every ten weeks, with an extra week off at the start of August for me birthday. She taught me almost everything I know. Everything there is to know about the Northern Caverns: the names of all the caverns and towns in 'em, the quickest and safest ways to get there, what to do if a mecha got busted up and I were too far from civilisation to get help..."

It sounded like a nice life. Almost idyllic. Certainly more laid back that Junjie's had been, from what he could remember of it.

"...but I just so happened to be an ungrateful little bitch," said Perry. "And I ain't just saying that 'coz of guilt. It weren't long after I met Lenny that all I could think about was the fact that one day, I'd have to become a mam too. I had my first kiss when I were seven, and it were with some kid I barely even knew. We'd played on the swings a few times, but that were it. And then he left. His mam dragged him off to be a cellist. Got worse as I grew up: after I turned ten, almost all I could think about were boys. I wanted to find the perfect boyfriend, the Love Of My Life, the One who I would Share The Rest Of My Life With. 'Course that's all bollocks really, ain't it?"

Junjie wasn't sure what to say. He'd never wanted to date a girl, get married or have children. He'd never even been in love. If he had, he hadn't recognised it.

"That's a whole other mess I ain't getting into," Perry said. "Mostly just... Mam wanted me to keep a low profile, see? She didn't want me to actually become known to anyone until I were as good and tough as possible. She didn't let me enter any tournaments until I were seventeen. When she did, I... I ain't gonna lie, I wiped the floor with 'em all. Took home the imaginary trophy. Mam hugged me and kissed me on the head and told me she was proud of me. You tend to remember that sort of stuff, you ken?"

Junjie didn't respond.

He couldn't remember ever experiencing anything like that. The idea of even having parents of his own seemed alien to him.

"And as we were riding home," she continued, "Mam told me I'd done her proud, that everybody had loved me, that when I took her job there wouldn't be anybody who'd stand in my way. I don't think I'd ever felt happier. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Angus, the bloke I was dating back then and I honestly properly thought I were in love with, had said we could run away together as soon as we were able. We could get married. Live peacefully. He even gave me a ring to prove it."

Her left hand curled into a fist.

"Then a... someone showed up," she said. "As we were going through Geoshard Pass, taking a shortcut on our way home, there was a man waiting for us. I'll never forget; he had bright red hair almost like mine used to be and he had massive scars on the side of his head where his ear should've been. He told Mam he was here to challenge her, and I was going to boast about how he'd lose but then Mam told me to stay quiet and leave."

"And you didn't, did you?" asked Junjie.

"Of course I bloody didn't!" Perry exclaimed. "I wanted to know who this scuggan was and why he wanted to fight me mam! So I hung back and I watched them duke it out, but after a few minutes, I realised Mam was getting tired. Shouldn't have been surprised - she was forty-nine years old, after all - but I wanted to step in! I wanted to help her! But she just kept telling me to stay out of it, don't get involved, stay back, I don't want you to get hurt..."

Her fist clenched tighter.

"...she got disarmed," she said. "Got her blaster knocked right out of her hands and whacked right down to the ground. I couldn't take it anymore, I wanted to help her, so I loaded up and ran in and before I could get a shot in, that guy, whoever he was, he pulled a slug right off the rock wall and when he fired it, this mess of crystals, stuff like this-" she indicated the slab over their heads "-sprang up all around me, all around my body, and it sliced right into me hand like I was made of putty..."

Her hand was shaking.

"I just couldn't stop screaming," she continued in a cracking voice. "I kept telling Mam to fight back, to get up, to do _something,_ but she was just lying there on the ground, looking up at the guy like she knew him, like she wanted him to- a-and then he- he just..."

She suddenly grabbed her right hand and clutched it like it still caused her pain.

"...they said it was instant," she said, and blinked a tear out of one eye. "Rammstone, direct to the neck. She was dead the moment it made impact."

There was nothing Junjie could have said that would adequately console her.

"Her slugs went off to get help," she continued. "I knew it were useless, but they went anyway. Came back with Lenny. She got me out of that crystal, but... i-it... she didn't get there until after nightfall. I was stuck there, me hand bleeding, forced to look at my mother's corpse, for _seven hours_."

Junjie felt his breath catch in his throat.

"And when I went to the doctor's to get patched up, they told me it was a miracle that I'd ever be able to use this hand again. Another hour and it would've been up for the chop. Told me if I didn't find a way to use me left hand, I'd never sling again."

She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand.

"She was so cold when I finally got to her..."

Junjie reached forward and took her hand. It was the only comfort he could think of that wouldn't seen cold or inappropriate.

Perry sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said, and wiped her eyes again. "Didn't mean to get like this. Last thing I wanted was to just dump everything on you."

"There's nothing wrong with it," Junjie assured her. "Everybody needs to vent once in a while. You especially, it would seem."

She almost smiled.

"So now I can barely even look me own hand without feeling sick to me stomach," she said. "Can't look at any scars without feeling sick. All it does is remind me of how hard I failed. How all I could do, when my mam needed me most, was just stand there screaming and watch her die."

Junjie couldn't think of anything to do. Nothing except just keep holding her hand. Even the slightest tiny amount of comfort would help a little, right?

"If..." he said hesitantly. "...if it's any consolation, though I doubt it will be much, I know what it's like to be unable to prevent devastation."

She didn't say anything. Didn't seem offended. Surprised, if anything.

"I was like you and Eli once," he told her. "I acted as guardian of the Eastern realms. I stood unparalleled. I was a champion. But I... there was a man who called himself the Emperor. He rose to power to rule the Eastern Caverns and I quickly joined a rebellion force to defeat him, but in the process, I myself was defeated."

Now Perry's face was one of horror.

"There was a slug," Junjie continued. "It was a ghouled Boon Doc. A Goon Doc, if you will. I don't know how, but it's able to invade and take over a person's mind and control their body, and the victim is a helpless prisoner, unable to fight back unless the Goon is forcefully removed by a healer slug. And I... I didn't get a healer slug. I had to wait until the Goon Doc wanted a new host. By that point, I..."

He looked down at his hands, the weight of guilt expanding in his chest.

"I had been its host," he said, "known as the Dark Slinger... I had been a prisoner inside my own mind for two decades."

"You _what?!_ " Perry gasped in shock.

"Twenty years." It was becoming hard to talk with this lump in his throat. "Twenty years I ravaged the lands I loved. A rampage of destruction that caused the entire realm to fall into chaos and ruin. All because I hadn't had the strength or will to fight back against that monster and take back my body. I wasn't even freed in my homelands! It was after the Goon decided the empire should be expanded and tried to invade the West that I was finally released from its grasp. I was met with more distrust from Eli's friends; they've warmed up to me, because I honestly don't mean them any harm and I never would because they and Eli are the first people to show me kindness in so, _so_ long, but then..."

He tried to breathe.

"I eventually did return home," he said, "but it wasn't for long. It's thanks to Eli that the tyranny of the Emperor was brought to an end, but there isn't any place for me there. Not anymore. I would rather live in a land where I am an unknown stranger than one where I am known and utterly and universally _hated_."

His hand wandered away from Perry's and to his chest.

"I have no memories of anything I did as the Dark Slinger," he confessed. "I razed my homelands for twenty years and cannot recall a single day. And when I was finally freed, I... I found that..."

Why had talking suddenly become so difficult?

"...my body," he said. "I have scars all over my body. From wounds that I don't remember. That I likely will never remember. I know you've seen my arms. Those are... those are just the beginning. During my time as the Dark Slinger, from what I can tell, I was slashed and cut and burned and stabbed a-and impaled, but I don't remember any of it. I don't remember a single thing!"

He sighed. He didn't know where this onslaught of confession had come from.

"It seems like..." he looked up at Perry, who was still obviously horrified. "...seems like both of us are beyond help, doesn't it?"

He could feel himself smiling, even though he was anything but happy. He could only wait for Perry to turn away in disgust.

Without warning, she sprang forward. He braced himself for the attempt on his life that he definitely deserved, but what he got instead was a hug. Tight, warming and comforting. Loving, almost.

And once he realised what was happening, he returned it, and he closed his eyes and gratefully melted into the embrace.

* * *

"Top Dog to Sixth Ranger. Top Dog to Sixth Ranger. Do you read me?"

There was no reply.

"Sixth Ranger, please reply. This is Top Dog calling Sixth Ranger. Sixth Ranger, can you hear me?"

Behind him, Lenny pressed her ear to the side of the crystal dome that shielded them and gently tapped on it with her knuckles.

"Top Dog to Sixth Ranger!" Eli repeated. "Come in, Sixth Ranger! Junjie, can you hear me?!"

"You're very optimistic if you think a signal can get through a mountain's worth of scrap," said Lenny. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"I already said I'm sorry!" cried Eli. "How was I to know that pipe was load-bearing? I just wanted it out of the way!"

"And you've told me so many, many times," Lenny said flatly.

Eli rolled his eyes.

"Sixth Ranger, come in!" he tried again. "This is Top Dog calling Sixth Ranger! Come in, Sixth Ranger!"

Still he received nothing but static.

"You're just going to exhaust yourself if you keep at that," Lenny commented.

"It's worth a try, isn't it?" asked Eli.

"I suppose," Lenny said, "but if it fails five times, it's likely to fail the next ten as well, so- over here!"

Eli dropped his hand from his ear and dashed over to where she knelt beside the softly glowing green crystal, her hand flat on the wall.

"I'd make a more permanent mark if I could," she said, and she licked her thumb and rubbed it on the crystal, "but there's a hollow spot here, right where this little smudge is. If you punch through right there, that Crystalyd of yours can dig us out of here."

"Okay," said Eli, and he loaded his blaster. "You'd better not be wrong about this."

"I've kept Perry alive so far, haven't I?" Lenny asked jokingly as she stepped away.

Eli stepped back as far as he could, took careful aim, and fired. The Crystalyd slug (he still needed to think of a name for it, this was getting ridiculous) blasted forward and ate right through the crystal like it was made of paper, and Eli and Lenny watched as a tunnel opened before them, gently sloping upwards, and eventually the sound of drilling came to an end with rays of light visible at the the new exit.

The smile Eli gave Lenny was insufferably smug.

"I'll admit I've never seen a Crystalyd slug in action," Lenny said, and she hadn't noticed his smile due to being so entranced by the tunnel. "Or a Crystalyd slug, Ever. I'm amazed you even have one with how rare they are."

"Yeah, I almost won a pretty big race last year," Eli explained as they entered the tunnel. "The guy who won... I think he felt bad for me, so he let me have the slug since he didn't need it."

Lenny looked inquisitive.

"Where I come from, a prize is just free fruit pies from a famous bakery or something," she said, and they entered the tunnel. "Nobody would even think of using such a rare slug. Wow, it's even made pillars?"

"Pretty impressive, huh?" asked Eli.

"And they're so sturdy!" Lenny ran her hand over one of the pillars.

"Better not risk it though," Eli pointed out, while Burpy lit up on his shoulder. "We just got a way out, so we don't want to get buried again, do we?"

Lenny quickly withdrew her hand.

"We didn't really get that much of a chance to talk earlier," said Eli as they continued on, "but Junjie's mentioned that you're kinda like an expert on slugs."

"I pretty much am, if I'm being honest," said Lenny. "They've fascinated me ever since I was about, uh..." she leveled an indicating hand at her hip "...that tall, I think? I just think it's amazing how the wellbeing of this entire world can depend on all of these tiny creatures, which are all different breeds and subspecies and have these amazing powers a-and are capable of doing all these _amazing_ things, like, would you ever have guessed that there's a slug that can make ink?"

"...no...?" Eli said hesitantly, and wondered if her ramble would intensify.

"I don't know if they already have official names," Lenny continued, "but I call them Chroma slugs and I've found them in Ludgate and Bootleg _and_ Foraoise Cavern and I can't help wondering if there are any in your caverns o-or in Junjie's caverns! And then there's the Firefloaters! Would you ever have believed that there was a creature capable of heating its body to the point of not just glowing, but levitating under its own power? And that's the only time they ever emerge! I've never been able to see them anywhere else! Nobody has! Nobody even knows what the Velocimorph looks like! I don't understand how anyone could _not_ be fascinated when our world is full of creatures like _this!_ "

She looked up at Eli.

Her face fell.

"You aren't, are you?" she said flatly.

"No, no, it's not that!" Eli said quickly. "Just that I never thought I'd meet anybody so passionate about these little guys." He gave Burpy an affectionate headrub with his thumb.

"Too many people take them for granted," Lenny pointed out. "I've tagged along to enough tournaments to see all kinds of prats and wankers treating them like they aren't good for anything other than ammunition. We rely on them and their magic to exist. Doesn't that make them worthy of our respect? Of our admiration?"

Eli smiled.

"You really love them, huh?" he commented.

"What gave that away?" asked Lenny with an equal smile.

As they walked, Eli looked around at the tunnel they were following. He knew that Crystalyds were fantastic at boring through rock, but he was a little worried about how effective they were on scrap metal. The tunnel had held so far, but if it fell in while they were halfway through...

"I gotta admit," he said, trying to take his mind off those thoughts, "I wouldn't have expected someone like you to be friends with someone like Perry."

"I could almost say the same," said Lenny, "but I couldn't live without her, to be honest. The fact that she's the McLinden means there's actually a need for my research - what Benny would probably call 'dangerous obsession' if he was here - and the idea that what I'm doing isn't just a pointless fixation is... it's comforting, to say the least. And she's really supportive of it too. She's totally fine with me accompanying her on excursions just in case I might find a new slug to document. I won't lie; that's part of the reason I wanted to come here with her."

"Along with making sure she doesn't destroy another bar?" asked Eli.

"Yes, along with that," Lenny confirmed. "But it's rather nice just being with her. She's my best friend. She has been since I was six."

"Wow," said Eli. "That long, huh?"

"I know," Lenny said. "Sometimes even I find it hard to believe. It's gotten to the point that I'm not sure what I'd do without her, and quite often I wonder what the heck she'd do without me."

Eli couldn't help but smile. He was glad she seemed to have cooled off after such a frosty beginning.

"And that's not just-"

She caught herself and fell silent with a face of shock.

"Just what?" asked Eli.

"Not just because..." Lenny hesitated again. "...because I..."

She looked away, blushing and shameful.

"Because what?" Eli asked again, and shared a concerned glance with Burpy.

Lenny stayed silent. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but her blush had definitely deepened.

"Are you..." Eli said slowly. "...you're making it sound almost like you... like you've got a crush on her or something."

Lenny made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a groan.

"...oh my god..." said Eli, and forced himself to _not_ hide his face in embarrassment.

"I don't even know how it happened!" Lenny exclaimed. "I don't even know where these feelings came from or why they came from there! Just that I... she's so strong and so fast and cool in fights even if I don't get involved, and she's okay with that and I know so many other people would probably hate me for not wanting to get involved because I love slugs but I _hate_ fighting, a-and she understands when she needs help. I only had to suggest travelling elsewhere to look for a cassette player and she was fine with it, like half a year ago when those people were trying to drill for dark water and corrupting the slugs and destroying the land; she did consider taking them on herself, but she wanted to see if there was anyone in the rest of Slugterra experienced with that sort of thing. She's smart and cool and strong a-and beautiful and..."

She trailed off. There wasn't much more she needed to say.

"Do you..." Eli spoke hesitantly. "...have you ever... tried... talking to her about it?"

"What would be the point?" sighed Lenny. "If she had any interest in me - i-in that way, at least - she would've shown it by now. She's had at least 4 people she could call boyfriends and two others who she was at least kind of interested in, so if she liked me like that (or any girl, for that matter) don't you think she would've shown it by now?"

Eli couldn't think of any way to disagree.

"And besides," Lenny continued, "both of us are happy with the friendship we have at the moment. If I tell her how I feel, I'll just make things awkward. Be honest with me, Eli: which sounds better to you? Admitting how I feel and driving us apart or keeping it to myself and letting both of us stay happy as we are?"

Again, Eli wasn't sure what he could say.

"I guess..." he tried. "...no, I-I got nothing. I'm sorry, I wish I could help."

"No, I'm sorry," said Lenny. "I shouldn't have just unloaded all of that onto you. I mean, Perry mentioned you after she came home from the West, but aside from that I barely even know you."

A couple of seconds passed in silence.

"My name is Eli Shane," he said, "my father's name is Will Shane and he was the defender of the 99 Caverns before me. My mother's name is Leslie and she's a paramedic who bakes the best damn brownies you'd ever experience. I'm 16 years old and that's because me and Dad agreed that if I couldn't start the job with him when I turned 18, I should start when I was 15. So I did, because he disappeared, and I almost got him back a few weeks ago, but then I lost him again and I honestly don't want to go down that path right now. I've been at this job for a year and I think I've gotten kinda good at it. I mean, I managed to defeat a megalomaniac scientist sociopath who wanted to destroy the entire world because of reasons, so I must be doing something right, don't you think?"

Lenny eyed him with confusion.

"What's a paramedic?" she asked.

Eli tried hard not to show any frustration.

"Never mind," he said. "Now you know some more about me, don't you?"

As he had hoped, Lenny smiled.

"I suppose so," she admitted.

"C'mon, we should move," Eli said, and he picked up the pace. "Wherever Junjie and Perry are, we need to find them before they get crushed or suffocated."

"Yeah," Lenny agreed, and she hurried to follow him up the tunnel.


	4. Butterfly in the Still

"Sixth Ranger, can you hear me? Come in, Sixth Ranger!"

Junjie's finger whipped to his comm link.

"Top Dog, this is Sixth Ranger, reporting!" he spluttered, and he heard a sharp intake of breath from Perry.

"Junjie, thank _god!_ " Eli could be heard sighing with relief. "Are you okay? Lenny's asking about Perry-"

"We're alright, both of us are fine," said Junjie, and he could feel himself smiling.

"Is Lenny okay?" Perry leaned forward. "OI! IS LENNY OKAY?!"

"Blue, will you- just back- she's fine!" Junjie replied, trying to push the desperate woman and her loud voice away from his face. "Eli just said she was asking about you, so she's alright, she's _fine._ "

Perry sat back in the scrap, breathless from her moment of panic.

"Eli, are you okay?" asked Junjie. "I'm guessing from the fact that we're able to speak that you found yourselves a way out."

"Yeah, you can thank our Crystalyd slug," said Eli. "Managed to dig us a pretty nice tunnel. Do you know where you guys are? I can do the same for you, I can dig you out!"

"That's... going to be a bit of a challenge," Junjie told him. "We've managed to work our way up a little, but we aren't very far from the ground. It's only this small and noticeably cramped sheet of Geoshard crystal that's kept us from being crushed by all of... _this_."

"...I see." Eli sounded far from cheerful. "Listen, Junjie, I'm sorry-"

"Apologise when we're safe and free," Junjie interjected. "I've taught you to the best of my ability and you've demonstrated talent far beyond I could have imagined. I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out."

Several seconds passed in anxious silence.

"O-okay," Eli said after a few moments. "I'll do my best. I swear it, I'll do my best!"

"Yes," said Junjie. "You will."

The soft hiss of static fell silent.

"So what now?" asked Perry. "Are we just going to sit here like mugs and wait to be found?"

Junjie looked around them. No more scrap had fallen in while they had been sitting there, but the crystal over their heads was definitely feeling the strain. A thin crack reached from above his head to mere centimetres from the edge of the green sheet. While it would hopefully hold for long enough for Eli to dig them out, or for them to live one enough to die of starvation rather than suffocation, he didn't want to gamble if the bet was on their lives.

"Do you have all your slugs with you?" he asked. "I recall your arsenal being quite small."

"Aye, they're all here," said Perry, and she pulled her vest open a little at the collar to reveal nervous little faces looking out at the narrow view.

"You have your Rammstone? And your new Phosphoro?"

Perry raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"I'm not going to like this idea, am I?" she asked.

"No," Junjie told her. "You're not."

He pointed at the hairline crack that stretched between them.

"Odds are this crystal won't last long enough for Eli or Lenny to find us a way out," he explained, "and given the change in the landscape and how far down we are, we could be here for days before they do even with a Crystalyd slug on their side. Perhaps even weeks. If we don't want to suffocate or starve, we need to send him some kind of signal."

"What, and you know some way to signal to 'im from all the way down here, do you?" Perry asked. "'Coz if you do, then you'd bloody well say it."

Junjie sighed.

"I want to attempt a fusion shot."

Perry blinked. Crud. She didn't know what a fusion shot was, did she? It had been mentioned before, but not in that terminology.

"That's either something really good or really bad," she said.

"At this point, it could be either," said Junjie. "What Eli and I were discussing before on our way here? Do you remember? I don't know if it's possible for a Phosphoro slug to combine powers with a Rammstone, but if we don't try to find out now-"

"You don't need to finish that."

"Yes, I know."

Perry looked around at the small space they were still buried in.

"Not entirely how a fusion shot would work, but there's no way we'd be able to aim our blasters properly with so little space," she pointed out, "unless we were to lie down or something."

"I get the feeling that may be inevitable," Junjie said, and couldn't avoid feeling a little embarrassed.

With a roll of her eyes, Perry sighed.

"No sense being bashful, lad," she said, and she straightened up (as much as she could) and turned around. "If it meant surviving this, I'd smooch you."

Junjie resisted a groan as he followed in her non-footsteps, and they laid down in the scrap, both trying to keep their scalps out of each other's shoulders. It wasn't the most comfortable of situations, nor the most private.

"Let me have Flare," he requested, and held up an expectant hand.

When a white canister was pressed into his fingers, he slotted it into his blaster, and his Rammstone obediently hopped into the other.

"I'll give the word," he said, "and then you fire Graeme and destroy the crystal. At which point I'll loose these two and they should punch through to the surface."

"...'should'?"

"...hopefully."

There was no response from Perry.

"If this doesn't work," said Junjie, and he offered her his hand, "I want you to know how sorry I am that it had to end like this. I'm sorry you couldn't hear that message from your mother and I'm sorry I wasn't able help you the way you had hoped."

Perry took his hand and clutched it tight. The squeeze of her fingers felt comforting and warm. He almost didn't want to let go.

"We going to do this or what?" she asked.

Junjie took a deep breath and released her hand, and steadied his aim directly upwards, her warmth still lingering on his hand.

"Alright," he said, and glared up at the crystal. "Are you ready?"

"No," Perry said. "I don't think I'll ever be ready."

Another deep breath.

"Alright... _NOW!_ "

* * *

"You really did a number on this place," Lenny commented. "And yes, I know you didn't mean it, but you have to admit-"

"Yeah yeah, I know," said Eli. "Guess we'd better start looking."

"How?" asked Lenny. "Unless you've got a slug that can sense where people are, or _you_ have that power, I do _not_ see how that would be possible."

Eli's heart fell as he looked out at the scale of the mess he had unintentionally caused. She hadn't been wrong: a thick layer of metal junk covered the ground almost as far as his eye could see. He could only barely tell where it sloped back down to the ground. It felt awful to admit, but to find Junjie and Perry under all of _that_ would take some kind of miracle.

Unless...

"I've got an idea," he said. "I'm about to do something that'll weird you out if you watch, so do you think you could figure out where we are and plot us a new course?"

"That shouldn't be too hard," said Lenny, and with a smile she added "Especially for someone as brainy as me!"

Eli smiled, then too a deep breath and concentrated.

He remembered his training. Remembered Junjie's teachings about the magic of Slugterra. He'd already known that the magic inherent to the world was present in everything that lived in it, be they human or humanoid or slug or tree, but he was still in the process of figuring out how to use and manipulate it to his will and right now, he was really, _really_ hoping this would work.

He reached out with his mind. To the untrained eye, he must have looked like he was meditating, and while not strictly wrong, it would've been safer to say that he was somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. In between the search he conducted with his mind, he hoped he wouldn't end up losing his balance and falling flat on his face. Even without standing in scrap, that wouldn't be comfortable.

Perhaps it would be a little more realistic to hope he didn't just sink...

No. Scrap that, no pun intended. He had to clear his mind. He had to _focus_.

He steadied his breathing, trying to relax. He could feel a life sign not far away and realised it was Lenny, who was probably baffled by what he was doing and wondering if he had lost his mind. He could feel his slugs in his bandoleer and backpack (and, of course, on his shoulder).

He tried to expand, to make his mind reach further. He couldn't believe Junjie could just stand and wave his arms and legs and make it look so goddamn easy.

He felt... something. Something... below him? In front of him? It felt muffled somehow. Was it to the side? Or maybe it was all three? Perhaps the scrap was blocking him somehow, or maybe he just wasn't good enough at Slug Fu yet to be able to do something like this, or perhaps he was trying too hard to do a specific part of it that was more suited to an actual master...?

And Eli knew that while he was admittedly pretty awesome, he wasn't quite a master yet.

He opened his eyes, hoping maybe it would help him figure out where his friends could be, but all he saw was the expanse of rubbish.

"Come on..." he muttered, "...where _are_ you?"

He gave up and reached for his comm again.

"Sixth Ranger," he said, unable to hide how dejected he felt, "can you-"

But he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because some distance away, something huge and dazzling exploded out of the scrap.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed in shock.

"What?!" Lenny was just as if not more alarmed, and she hurried over to find out what was going on.

Eli squinted to see what was down there. He could just about make out the red of a Rammstone and soft teal of a Phosphoro hopping away from a quickly settling sinkhole.

"Something tells me your search is over!" said Lenny.

"Yeah," Eli said as he loaded Maggs into his blaster, "I know."

He fired and concentrated again, and felt his Slicksilver respond to his persuasion. When he pulled, Maggs followed, adhering perfectly to the instructions of his mind, and flew in circles over the region that two slugs had burst from. The scrap spiraled up into a vortex that bore the soft bluish-white glow of the slug's magic, growing larger and larger and sucking up as much of the rubbish as Eli thought the Slicksilver could manage.

"Holy _crivens_ ," he heard Lenny mutter nearby.

Eli straightened up and directed Maggs higher, collecting the gathered scrap into a ball, and with one final clench of his fists, he directed the massive ball to be thrown to the side, far away from where it would fall in again and undo all of their work.

Job done, Maggs curved around and started flying back towards him, but the connection broke a few metres short as Eli collapsed to his knees, drained like a freshly emptied bathtub.

"Are you okay?" asked Lenny. "That was insane!"

"Yeah... I know," Eli found the strength to say. "I'm not an expert but I... I tried."

Certain that he was alright, Lenny ran past him and down into the huge, newly-formed crater. When Eli looked up after taking Maggs back from the ground, she was already tearing chunks of machinery and other miscellaneous metal objects away from the deepest point of the dent, and despite still feeling dizzy he jumped up to join her. It was a mad scramble down the slope and he worried that he might start another scrapalanche if he wasn't careful, but luckily he managed to reach the bottom without making too much of a mess.

"Come on, _come on_ ," he whispered as he frantically dug through the scrap. "Come on, come on Junjie, where are you, come _on!_ "

He pulled and pulled, and over and over felt sharp, hard edges pushing into his fingers and no doubt cutting them to ribbons, but he didn't care. He just kept digging, not caring how much of a frenzy he was working himself up into as he tossed chunks of metal over his head and to the side and anywhere that was out of the way...

...until, after what felt like forever, he finally uncovered a hand in a fingerless black glove.

He didn't hesitate to grab it with both of his hands and _pull,_ unable to keep his eyes open because of how much he was straining, but he pulled so hard that the rubbish slipped under his feet and he toppled backwards.

Trying this while washed out from Slug Fu probably hadn't been a very good idea, so he took a moment to lie there and wallow in pain and psychological exhaustion.

This really wasn't a good day for him, was it?

From somewhere in front of him was the sound of someone clearing their throat.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the most recent addition to the Shane Gang standing over him, knee-deep in scrap and offering his hand.

"I did tell you that you'd do your best," he said.

Eli felt himself smiling as he took the hand and was pulled to his feet, and didn't hesitate to throw himself upon the man in a massive hug which was gladly returned.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, "I'm sorry, Junjie, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

"Don't worry!" said Junjie. "I'm alright, I promise. I'm fine. Both of us are fine."

Eli opened his eyes and saw, through the fur his face was half-buried in, two young women wrapped in each other's arms and muttering reassurances to one-another. The relief in Lenny's face was more than palpable and Perry looked like she might start crying.

Lenny's confession echoed in his mind and he felt a pang of sympathy in his heart.

At least she seemed to have her situation under control, so he allowed himself a heavy sigh of relief and gratefully melted into the embrace.

If he didn't know any better, he would say the hardest part was over.

* * *

"Okay, this is section 83!" Lenny declared. "Only a few more sections and then we'll get to our destination and I don't care how much I sound like a conductor for saying that."

"You're already conducting us well enough, love," Perry happily told her. "Definitely conducted the Shane bairn well enough!"

"Hey, it was _me_ that dug us all out of there!" Eli reminded her.

"And whose dumbo fault was it we needed diggin' out in the first place?" asked Perry.

Eli's expression was one close to disgust.

"You're not going to let me live it down, are you?" he asked. "Like, years from now, when I'm dating and I've got a boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever, you'll tell them about how I buried us all under a scrap heap. I bet you- you'll tell my kids about it! You'll remember it even after I've had kids and then you'll tell _them_ all about it!"

"Aye, you bet!" Perry said cheerfully and grinned at him with pride.

Eli sighed.

"How many times am I going to have to apologise?" he asked.

"As many times as it takes," Junjie replied with a shrug.

"As many times as it takes for me hand to stop hurting," added Perry.

"And you're totally sure you don't need any medical attention for that?" asked Lenny.

"Len, this hand's been painin' me for three years," Perry reminded her. "Still, I'll give it some ice when we get back to..."

She looked to Eli again.

"We're heading back to your place, right?" she inquired. "You ain't expecting us to rig up the player in my home after we lug it back across the Cavern Sea?"

"Um.. _no?_ " Eli was baffled as to why she would think that. "Obviously we're going to rig it up back at the hideout."

"You call that place a hideout?!" asked Lenny.

"...yeah?" said Eli.

"Well, it is rather difficult to hide," Junjie told him. "How many times has it been attacked? How many people have you told me about who practically walked up to your front door?"

"Most of them were tracking one of us!" Eli pointed out. "Or at least following from a distance!"

"That doesn't change the fact that it's a big ball of white built around a large tree," said Junjie.

"With little-to-no potentially concealing vegetation anywhere nearby," added Lenny.

"And blue glowy bits, don't forget the blue glowy bits," said Perry.

"And I'm guessing yours is much more secretive?" asked Eli.

"It's inside a mountain with the door hidden by ivy, lad, so draw your own conclusions from that," Perry happily told him.

Eli would've responded with something snarky and had already opened his mouth to do so when he realised he didn't have any rebuttals strong enough, so he shut his mouth again and allowed her to laugh at him.

Next to him, his Slug Fu tutor laughed too.

" _Et tu,_ Junjie?" he asked.

"Sorry," Junjie said. "It's just that I'm relieved that we can have this kind of banter again, aren't you?"

After a moment's consideration, watching the two young women walking before them sharing in chatter, Eli smiled.

"Yeah," he admitted, "I guess I am."

Junjie smiled too, and he looked back to the path they were taking.

Wait.

No he wasn't. Eli followed his gaze and noticed that rather than looking at the path ahead, his gaze was instead fixed on the taller of the women who were following it and enthusiastically discussing something with one another, oblivious to how they were being observed. Or rather, how _she_ was being observed, with a happy grin and glittering eyes.

He looked at Junjie's faint smile, then back at her, then back to Junjie again.

"Dude," he said flatly.

"Hm?" Junjie turned to him as if snapping out of a trance.

"Junjie," said Eli, "what happened back there? And by back there, I mean... you know."

A few moments passed as Junjie looked thoughtful.

"Well..." he said slowly, "...I think... we learned a little more about each other."

"How?" asked Eli. "I mean, obviously you guys would've talked to each other, not like you'd be able to do a whole lot else, unless you were okay being incredibly uncomfortable while-"

" _Eli_."

"...sorry."

"You should be! I don't know what's happened to you today, but you can start fixing it by getting your mind out of the gutter."

Eli smiled apologetically and waited for a response.

"She told me," said Junjie, "about her life growing up with her mother, and about how she was killed. And I say 'was killed' and not simply 'died' because according to Perry, she was a forced eyewitness to her mother being brutally murdered and spent hours unable to look away from her corpse before they were found."

The younger slinger couldn't avoid gaping in amazement.

" _Wow_ ," he said numbly. "No wonder she seems so intense. I think anybody would end up with temper problems after going through something like _that_."

"And in return," Junjie continued, "I told her how I fell to the Emperor. I left out some of the most painful details - my master Lian, the history of my family and the exact circumstances of how I became the Dark Slinger - but I told her of how I was a prisoner inside my own head, and that thanks to you I was returned to my body after it had been massively scarred."

Eli looked him up and down. His discomfort was pretty obvious.

"And you're still sure Doc wouldn't be able to do anything about that?" Eli tried.

"My body has already healed itself to the best of its ability," Junjie told him. "If I thought there was anything Doc could do, believe me: I would be welcome to it."

He smiled sadly at Eli, who could only solemnly accept his statement.

"Still," he said, "sounds like you two had a pretty major heart-to-heart down there."

"Yes," Junjie said, and looked back to Perry, "we certainly did."

Eli looked between them again. Perry was still happily chatting with Lenny and Junjie had gone back to that happy little smile as he watched her walking.

Oh.

 _That_ was how it was.

"Um... Eli?" Junjie said after a few seconds.

"Yeah?" Eli responded.

"Do I even want to know what you're smiling about _this_ time?"

"Oh, just the fact that for probably the first time, I know more than you do."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all~"

Junjie glared at him in annoyance.

"Okay, okay," said Eli, "I've got a challenge for you, oh dearest master of mine."

"A challenge?" A suspicious black eyebrow was raised. "What kind of challenge?"

"I want you," Eli said smugly, "to say something nice about Perry McLinden that doesn't have anything to do with fighting."

"What?!" Junjie was clearly forcing himself to keep his voice down. "What kind of ridiculous challenge is-"

"Everything alright back there, lads?"

Attention was diverted to where the two ladies had stopped walking, staring at the pair in bafflement. Eli and Junjie flushed in embarrassment.

"No, yeah, we're cool!" Eli said quickly.

"Everything's fine," Junjie added. "We're just having a little disagreement, that's all."

"Good," Perry said. "Wouldn't want to have to get between you two or anything."

With a confident smile, she resumed walking with Lenny, who showed her something on the map.

"Go on," Eli murmured to Junjie, and nudged him on the arm. "If you said she's tough in a fight or she's quick or tough or whatever, that'd just be cliche. Say something nice about her. What're you afraid of?"

"Her hearing me?" Junjie said flatly.

Eli shrugged. He had to admit it was a fair point, but he was feeling daring and wasn't going to let up.

Junjie sighed.

"I like her determination," he admitted, "in circumstances outside combat, and I appreciate that under her veneer of strength and aggression she still has a kind heart and..."

"And?" Eli prompted.

Junjie's cheeks were practically glowing.

"...I think she has very pretty eyes," he said.

Eli bit his lip. He was forcing himself not to giggle. Burpy, who was sitting in his bandoleer, was laughing up a storm.

"Alright, now stop it," said Junjie.

"You like her~" Eli sniggered.

"Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't," Junjie sternly said, "but I fail to see how it affects the mission at hand."

"Dude," said Eli, "it kinda affects the mission if the _reason_ for the mission is making you glow like a Phosphoro!"

"I'm 'glowing like a Phosphoro' because you just made me admit something rather personal!" Junjie snapped. "Something perhaps even I hadn't realised until you forced me to."

"You hadn't realised that you liked her?" asked Eli.

"No!" Junjie responded. "Didn't I make that clear?"

"How can you not have realised that?" Eli asked. "Don't you get, like, butterflies or something? That's how it works, right? I mean, everything I've seen says when you get a crush on someone, it feels like you've got butterflies in your stomach."

Junjie stared at him, anger replaced with confusion.

"What are butterflies?" he asked.

Within his mind, Eli facepalmed.

"Um..." He leaned in closer so he couldn't be heard. "Surface thing."

"Oh," said Junjie, "so..."

"Replace it with Hoverbugs," Eli said quickly. "Everything I've seen says that when you fancy someone, it feels like Hoverbugs fluttering around in your stomach. Didn't you feel that and then realise 'Oh crud'?"

"Well, I..." Junjie said, sounding more than a little awkward. "...no."

Eli didn't say anything, waiting for his friend to continue.

"When I lived in the Eastern Caverns, I never took time out for anything like romance," Junjie explained. "Obviously I had friends, but most of my time was devoted to my role, to the Championship. The person I spent a majority of my interaction with was Lian, and I think it's fairly obvious that I never considered her a potential partner in any sense other than combative. And yet..."

He looked down at Perry again.

"...she makes me feel warm," he continued, "and comforted in ways I can't describe. Just like earlier today: I was already relieved to hear her again over the phone and know she was alright, but when I realised she was right at our door, I can't even begin to describe the joy I felt. I don't know how it happened but..."

He rested a hand over his abdomen.

"You're wrong," he said. "It doesn't feel like Hoverbugs. It's more like a knot. A knot of thick, rough rope that won't stop tightening itself. It's heavy and hot and it _hurts_ and I don't know how to get rid of it."

There was no response from Eli, if only because he had no idea _how_ to respond.

Eventually, he just sighed.

"Man," he said, "sounds like you've got it _bad_."

Junjie sighed too.

"Yes," he admitted. "Yes I have."

He looked up at Perry again, but he didn't seem to be smiling anymore.

Eli nudged him again.

"Come on," he said. "Let's just focus on moving, okay? You'll have plenty of time to feel lovesick once we get back to the hideout."

Junjie rolled his eyes and the smile return, much to the teen's relief.

Their discussion over, the walk through the scrapheap continued.


End file.
